Officials said the explosion on Friday evening also injured 196
people, adding that the death toll could still rise.

They
described scenes of devastation in the town of Sange, where houses were
burnt and bodies littered streets. Some people died while trying to
steal fuel leaking from the tanker, but most were killed at home or
watching World Cup soccer in flimsy cinemas.

Many of the bodies
were charred beyond recognition.

UN helicopters began airlifting
the injured to hospital, while Congo’s army, which lost a number of men
in the blast, has sent soldiers in to help with the rescue. “Our latest
numbers are 230 dead and 196 injured,” Madnodje Mounoubai, a spokesman
for the UN mission, said. Congo’s government gave the same number of
dead.

Marcellin Cisambo, governor of South Kivu province, where
the blast took place, said it happened after the fuel truck overturned,
leaked fuel and later exploded.

It was not immediately clear what
caused the overturning or explosion, but local people said the truck,
part of a convoy, stopped when the road seemed to crumble, toppling the
vehicle and causing fuel to spill.

“It’s a terrible scene. There
are lots of dead bodies on the streets. The population is in terrible
shock – no one is crying or speaking,” said Jean-Claude Kibala, South
Kivu’s vice governor, in Sange.

“We are trying to see how we can
co-ordinate with [the UN] to manage the situation and how to take the
wounded to hospital.”

Roads in the area are notoriously bad after
years of war and neglect in the vast central African state.

“Some
people were killed trying to steal the fuel, but most of the deaths were
of people who were indoors watching [the World Cup],” Mr Cisambo said.

There
have been numerous similar incidents across Africa, where crowds gather
around fuel tankers involved in crashes, before they explode.

At
the time of the latest disaster on Friday evening, millions of football
fans across Africa were watching Ghana, the continent’s last team in the
World Cup, play Uruguay in the quarter finals of the tournament.

“My
children were watching the football match in the cinema and then they
ran out to see the petrol,” said Kiza Ruvinira, who lost three children
and his sister-in- law. “I went out to see what happened and I found my
three children’s bodies myself. I don’t know how to go on.”

Mubaya
Mumasura lost three family members. “I don’t know what to do with
myself – I am so sad. I want the government to assist all the victims
and help us.”

Congo’s weak government has difficulty providing
even the most basic services. International Committee of the Red Cross
co-ordinator Inah Kaloga said aid workers were trying to identify bodies
before they were buried.